So,

I'm more of a gun guy, but do like blades. I only want functional steel blades.

I have always wanted a Katana, but the price tag was always a turn off. I have several blades large and small, but nothing Asian (I have a couple long swords, bastard sword, short swords, daggers, bayonets, Khukri, etc.). All my stuff is functional steel and sharpened.

I have been looking at these custom Katanas, with 1095 full tang steel blades. http://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/custo ... ese-katana

I had held off because in the weapons department my extra cash would tend to favor guns, given the Obama and predicted Hillary wins, I was focusing my efforts on gun purchases. Now I can breath a bit of relief and a recent 10% discount made me pull the trigger. Looks like a good product for the price, which came in at $270. Seems really inexpensive for the product. I'll do a review when I get it. Their reviews on line and facebook are fantastic, and the pictures of their products looks very good.

I liked customizing, and I went with:
28" blade katana
Chose no bohi, for whatever marginal increase in blade strength
Chose no hamon, because the hamon on a non clay blade is fake
And I picked a color scheme that I like with a leather handle wrap (versus silk).

I'm hoping it's a good quality sword. It will take a few months to get it, but I'll post when I do. For those visually interested, it will look very similar to this one, with a few modifications

Nice! I collect live blades as well. I have a two-handed Scottish claymore, a basket-hilt claymore, a Viking sword, a seax, a Scottish dirk, an Irish broadsword, and a really nice forged, folded, clay tempered katana made by Paul Chen/Hanwei.


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Looking forward to seeing it.

My old man bought a set of 3 Katanas from someone in Seattle in the 90s. He felt the blades and felt that $200 was expensive but probably worth it.

As he was walking the 3 blades to his car with the stand, some Japanese tourists saw him and asked if they could see the blades. Dad said go for it. Guy asked my dad if he knew what he had; dad said nope, just bought them for $200. Homeboy offered my dad $1,000 on the spot. Pops rejected figuring if the dude is offering $1k on the spot, they're worth more. He quickly offered $1,500. Dad said no way and kept them. Still have them to this day. I'll maybe make a post about them one day.

Go get them appraised!

It would be funny if they appraised at $200....

Leadcounsel, this is an interesting thread. I can't wait to see what you get!

If I was in a situation where someone offered like the sword and parking lot offer above, I'd ask for the person's number and tell them I'd think about it. I'd then immediately get the sword appraised and make an informed decision to sell or hold.

Maybe you have the Honjo Masamune

Katana arrived recently. I'm stoked with it in every sense of the word. Pictures require too many steps to put online and upload so that's not going to happen but go to their website for very accurate pictures.

I have only unboxed it and swung it around a bit. But I can offer a 100% positive review thus far.

http://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/

Stock picture


1095 hardened steel, full tang, and sharp. This is my first katana but I have several other swords and blades. I did not get the fake hamon, nor pay for a "magical" blade. I wanted a good hand made basic but useful katana and that's what I got for little coin.

A few points.
*Custom Katana, got to select every aspect of it from a good menu of options and it included a free engraving on the blade.
* Great communication through facebook and email. I was notified when it was done with photos to check for accuracy. There was one trivial mistake that the photos allowed me to correct which they did no questions asked. I was allowed to make last minute changes but in the end did not.
*From placing my order it was 1 month to make. It would have been a few days sooner if I didn't have a change.
*Took 10 days shipping from China.
*Arrived in a very well-packaged styrofoam box, and included a basic bag and stand. Handle was shrink wrapped to protect it, and it came in a plastic bag to protect it, and was coated with a film of oil which easily whipped off.

*Blade is straight, sharp, and no imperfections.
*Leather and handle materials very high quality.
*Sheath is high quality, nice tight fit.

For a $300 investment, this is a phenomenal purchase if you're in the market for a high quality sword.

In the sword world, check out the international sword forum. Any sword under $700 is considered a beater, under $300 a wall hanger.

I dont have @ swords that exceed $2000 because I am rich, because I am dirt poor. I have them because they were the cheapest quality swords I could afford.
I studied Japanese fighting arts for over 50 years, sword for the last 15. These are not my first swords, but they are my last.

Need videos of it chopping stuff.

Don't mean to bust your chops but I don't think this helps anyone. "You need to spend at least X to get quality" doesn't blanket apply to anything, ever. Swords, guns, golf clubs, cars, you name it. There are crappy expensive items and high quality yet inexpensive ones. Will your local gas station have quality blades? No. But the OP's sword might be really good for $300. You can spend a lot to chase that last bit of performance...again this is pretty universal.

Where did you get your blades?

I'm not a gear snob. There's a price point at which the returns are slim-to-none in all gear categories. I've read plenty of arguments on this point on how a blade sprinkled with fairy dust is somehow better... Marginally I suppose, at 3x-10x the cost.

If I were going into battle cutting through chain mail clad horse cavaliers, sure, I'd maybe need a $2000 blade. But I'm not. I wanted a useful, functional blade that would retain an edge and not break. 1095 fills that role just fine. Give me a realistic item I will strike that will damage or break a 1095 steel blade?! Certainly not straw mats, plastic water bottles, rope, or anything used in self defense. And the rest of the craftsmanship is very impressive. It's still new, but I'm very happy about my purchase.

Part of "quality" is "affordability." You're talking about a sword that costs 7 times what I paid. In the gun world I bought a Glock, and you're suggesting a person needs a tuned and polished Colt Python. Um. No.

http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/sword-steels.html

1060 is adequate, more flexible, holds a good edge
1095 is strong, holds a great edge, and may be slightly brittle if hitting solid objects
Folded steel is not necessarily better than modern steel, folding was used as a technique to drive out impurities which modern steel lacks from the start
9260 is good durable spring steel that holds and edge

Then you start getting into more expensive/exotic steels outside my initial budget. I'm an novice but I'd wager that the modern steels above might rival what samurai were able to produce/own in their era. The amount of work involved to product something on par with 1095 carbon steel would have been impressive. Dunno, perhaps someone else can address how a modern 1095 or 9260 spring steel sword would compare to the traditional ones for purity, strength, longevity, etc. I know the traditional ones had a different design, with a more flexible spine and more hard blade.

$2k on a sword, after 1900, because you're dirt poor? Oh. Ok.

When you say useful functional blade, what are you using this thing for? Totally serious question.

Duh. Zombies. File uploaded.... :)